Equivalent Exchange
by Chessy Pipes
Summary: Winry Rockbell's commited the greatest taboo on alchemy, the Human Transmutation, trying to resurrect her family. Losing her arm and her leg in the process and becoming a State Alchemist, now she searches for a way to restore her body using a mythical item: the Philosopher's Stone. Roleswap!AU
1. Prologue: Mortal Sin

Fullmetal Alchemist doesn't belong to me. It is Arakawa-sensei property, not mine.

Okay...I started this AU on Tumblr and I've finally decided to give it a try on FanFiction. Basically it is a Roleswap!AU, where the characters, as the name says, switch roles. In this case, Winry's the Fullmetal Alchemist, and this fic will begin when she did the Human Transmutation. The rest of the characters roles will be discovered as the fic advances. Important: this **won't** be an exact copy of the canon. Each character, though the roles have changed, will keep their canon personality. So this story is gonna differ from the canon in a _lot_ of ways. This is my first FMA long-fic, so I hope I don't mess it up so much.

Another thing: English **is not** my mother language. So if you find some mistake, please message me, and I'll fix it when I can :)

Well, I hope you like it, and please leave a review! They're free :D

* * *

« _Tears aren't the end of your sins,_

 _you have to bear them painfully, forever._

 _Who are you waiting for in this maze of emotions_

 _where you can't even see the exit?_ »

―Yui, _Again_.

* * *

 _5 years ago_

Winry's hand trembled slightly as she pressed the tip of the nib she was using, injecting black tint onto white paper. An excited smile escaped from her lips.

"It's ready" she declared, grabbing the paper lightly, studying it with professional eyes, searching for mistakes. A presence next to her turned, curious, to examine the document she had in her hands. Happiness decorated his features, making his golden eyes, with a slight mist of green covering them, shine.

"Is it really ready?" he asked, a smile breaking in his lips. The blonde nodded, delighted, letting a chuckle bloom in her throat.

"I'll use it tonight to bring back mom and dad" she sighed, ecstatic, undecided if she should hug the piece of parchment with all her forces "And tomorrow I'll bring back Granny. We can eat of her stew tomorrow, Al!"

Al grinned, as cheerful as her, helping her to collect the books scattered on his father's old study. Winry tasted the afternoon sunlight that seeped through the windows, warming the wood floor and turning her blonde hair into gold. When they finished, with a few dust particles dancing in the air for the moved shelves, the girl smiled to him kindly.

"Tell Aunt Trisha that I'm really thankful to her for letting me stay in your house this afternoon" she mentioned to him, and Al laughed, as if he considered her thanks something unnecessary. The blonde grabbed the paper in her right hand a bit tighter, careful to not run the ink that was mildly fresh "And warn Ed that I'm gonna start at sunset, automail training or not!"

The boy bit his lower lip, a reluctance expression on his face while she reached the door's threshold of the study to go downstairs and get out of the house.

"Why can't you do it here?" he suggested, hopeful. Winry frowned, shaking her head.

"I've already explained to you, Al. I want my parents to be at their home when I bring them back, be the first thing they see…" Winry let a smile grace her lips, enjoying the warm feeling that spread through all her body at the prospect of the big yellow house full of life again "And besides, it's our secret, isn't it? It would be hard to keep it if Aunt Trisha is around here while I'm doing the transmutation, you know"

Al stayed in silence, and the blonde didn't turn to see his face. She went downstairs, jumping from step to step "And don't forget to come!"

The girl barely heard Al's muffled "I wouldn't miss it for anything!" while she ran out of the house. Resembool's cool autumn air invaded her nostrils, her boots hitting excited the stones on the road, the dry grass making tickles on the naked legs under her skirt. The afternoon's cloudless sky reflected on her eyes, now as clear as the summer's firmament. She let a laugh bloom in the air as she noticed that a yellow construction silhouetted against the horizon of one of the town's gentle and green hills. That night, there would be more than a lonely lamp on, more than a goodnight whisper, more than a body warming up the big house that would become a home again.

Winry's laughter increased when loud barks welcomed her, a silhouette tackling her to the ground, licking playfully her face. The paper flew out of her hand, landing gracefully on the earth.

"Den!" she exclaimed, trying to get up to ease her dog, that moved its tail contented. The girl widened her smile "I'm excited too, Den," she whispered, caressing it "tonight we won't be alone in the house! We'll have mom and dad back with us, what do you think? And Granny's coming tomorrow!"

The dog barked again while the young alchemist stood up, shaking her skirt to get rid of the few pieces of dry grass that had clung onto her clothes. She picked carefully the fragile piece of parchment that had drifted to the ground, unscathed of the canine's attack.

"C'mon Den" she smiled, guiding her to the yellow house. She let her gaze fall into the horizon, thinking with a warm knot in her stomach that the next time she'd get out of the house it wouldn't be alone.

* * *

The Elric brothers arrived promptly at the sunset, when the sun of a deep ruby stained of vermilion the sky. When they came in, a cool air stream got in the house, alerting Winry of their arrival. She smiled to them in welcome while she carried the ingredients, in various jars and pots, to the basement, looking at her sides carefully to not lose balance.

"What do you want us to do, Winry?" asked Al kindly, offering himself to take one of the bottles where there were ingredients. The blonde shrugged, letting the younger Elric grab one of the containers she carried.

"Stay up here while I do the transmutation. When I come back, I want you to give a big warm welcome to my parents!" she ordered, and the younger Elric nodded, smiling, but before he could say something, his brother interrupted him, snorting.

"You've got to be kidding me!" he growled, his eyes, like melted gold, accusing her "This is a great step in alchemy's history. Also, I think that I must remind you that it was thanks for _us_ that you finished the transmutation circle" the boy claimed, folding his arms. Al started to chuckle nervously. Winry raised her eyebrows while the three arrived to the basement and the girl turned on the lights.

"Oh, yeah? Well, I think that I must remind you too that it is _my_ family and it is going to be _me_ the one that's gonna make the transmutation" she left the ingredients on the floor "So I believe that I have the right to decide who's going to be here and who's not."

"Do you have all the ingredients Winry?" asked Al benevolently, in an attempt to stop his brother and best friend's fight. The blonde's blue eyes blinked, bewildered, before she turned to him with an excited smile dancing on her lips.

"Yes" she confirmed "70 liters of water, 40 kilograms of carbon, 8 liters of ammonia, 3 kilograms of lime, 1.6 kilograms of phosphorus, 500 grams of salt, 200 grams of niter, 160 grams of sulfur, 15 grams of fluorine, 10 grams of iron and 6 grams of silicon" the blonde recited, confirming with her eyes the presence of each ingredient she was naming "The components that conform the bodies of two average human adults. Of course, I've separated them to make the transmutations individually" she sighed, making a pause and putting her hands on her hips "Well, Ed, Al, go upstairs. I'll take care of the rest"

The older Elric opened his mouth ready to talk, but before he could argue with her, Winry laughed.

"Don't worry Ed, nothing will happen. Next time I cross past that door, it will be hand in hand with my parents" she promised, pushing both upstairs "C'mon, that the constructive formula won't be drawn by itself"

"Wish you luck, Winry!" exclaimed Al smiling, though she could see some reluctance in his eyes, as if he wasn't sure if it was safe to leave her alone in the basement. Before closing the door, the blonde could've sworn that, between Ed's grunts, she saw a bright smile. When the Elric brothers were out of her sight, separated by the barrier of wood, she locked the gate. She sighed while she took a chalk and, from the paper that she had finished in her friends' house, copied the transcribed transmutation circle. The blonde repressed a shiver at the same time that she did the shapes that conformed the diagram.

She had read about the dangers of the human transmutation, and though she was willing to take the risk to repair her broken family, she didn't want the brothers to get hurt―they were the only family she had left. She got up, observing her creation, the almost perfect strokes highlighting on the grey basement's floor.

There was no room for mistakes, anyway. The trio had taken care of that when they developed their theory of human transmutation. Everything was going to be fine.

 _And now,_ she thought while she grabbed a little knife and did a small cut on her left hand's index finger, _the information about the soul._

The scarlet drop rolled through her porcelain skin until it fell in the amount of ingredients in the center of the transmutation circle. The crimson shone like a crow's wing on fresh snow.

The blonde went to the edges of the circle, kneeling on the floor. An anxious smile escaped from her lips. She thought of her mother's soft smile and the warm hugs that her father always gave to her; she even missed her grandmother's severe scolding. She took a deep breath and thought of her mother. Yes, the blonde decided, her mother first.

Putting her hands above the ground, she activated the transmutation circle.

The blueish light of the energy that produced the transmutation circle, that looked as if it was electricity, bathed the room, overshadowing the lamps' golden bright. The alchemist felt that the smile that had formed her lips was going to break her face, as wide as it was. _It works!_ she exclaimed excited in her thoughts. Her happiness grin stopped short on her face, though. Suddenly, the blue electricity transformed into a toxic purple smoke, breaking the lamps in the ceiling. The screams got stuck in her throat as she saw that the smoke dissolved, giving way to a curve line to drew itself on the transmutation circle. Terror invaded her, making her arms and legs shake.

Something was wrong. This…this wasn't supposed to happen.

Soon, the line turned into a giant eye gazing absently to the roof.

When the eye opened, long strips, as black as the night, got out of the transmutation circle, stretching, looking as if their ends, that seemed to have little fingers on them, tried to touch vaguely the basement's ceiling, without success.

Winry's piercing scream finally found its way to the now cold air when she fell to the ground, two of her limbs snatched away from her by the dancing ebony ropes.

* * *

A white space presented before her, extending itself infinitely. She blinked, disorientated, trying to balance her sight. Reminiscences of pain resonated throughout her head, vibrating in her right arm and left leg. She surprised herself when she realized that she was standing up and not kneeling on the ground. She frowned, trying to remember what had happened and where she was now.

 _Could it be…a rebound?_ The blonde thought, looking at the palms of her hands _Is this…heaven?_

"Yo!" exclaimed a cheerful voice. It sounded as if it was a choral of voices talking at her at unison, but at the same time it was heard as a whole. Winry lifted her head to find an entity sat on the white floor with its legs crossed, surrounded by a strange black halo, that didn't seem ethereal nor corporeal. The words were stuck in her mouth as she tried to hold back the tears that were watering her eyes. She didn't know if they were caused by fear, shock, pain or a strange combination of the three. An unusual laugh came from the presence's neutral face, a few steps ahead of her "Hey, no crying on here!"

The blonde gulped, feeling that her cheeks were blushed by a slight pink. Between the lot of questions that made echos in her mind, one escaped from her lips before the tears that she was holding "Who are you?"

The entity raised its arms up, its smirk almost twisting in one of a happy child of her age.

"Oh my, it's very nice of you to ask! I'm an existence that you folks like to call world. Sometimes, universe. Sometimes, God. Sometimes, Truth. Sometimes, All. Sometimes, One" it answered her, its voice adopting a solemn ring as it advanced on its explanation "Finally, I am...you"

Winry had an odd feeling at the last sentence pronounced by the being while the panic in her body increased at alarming levels. She stepped back, trembling, before she noticed a great and majestic sound, almost regal, crossing the space where she was. She turned to see the last details of two giant gates opening to discover what they had inside, a portion of her brain questioning why and how she hadn't seen them before. Her breathing started to turn erratic and without control, her hands sweaty and the heart beating furiously against her chest. She suddenly had the instinct to run, run far away from the doors.

When she blinked, her muscles tensing to bolt in any moment, she was face to face with a big eye, in its iris dancing many grey concentric circumferences. Winry felt the imperious need to scream when she saw that numerous strips, similar to the ones that had been summoned from the transmutation circle, twined around her body, grabbing her, and lifting her from the ground. She started to fight against them, moving her arms and legs violently, without noticing that she had started to scream, shutting her eyes tightly. Warm tears rolled on her cheeks, product of the pain that the ropes made trying to hold her still and the pure terror that invaded her.

It took a second to Winry to know that all of her efforts were meaningless while the gates closed slowly, leaving the white and shiny room behind.

"So noisy...wasn't this what you wanted?" she heard the presence sigh above her screams. A brief pause followed its words, and, with a stern face and even a little bit resigned one, it said: "I'll show you the Truth, Ms. I'm-an-idiot-who-acts-all-high-and-mighty"

With that, the doors closed completely, locking themselves quickly with a thud. Winry felt herself fall into an abyss black and eternal, the air passing in a high speed next to her ears making a whistle. Her shrieking didn't cease, though now the drops of water coming from her eyes floated, losing themselves in the endless darkness. Suddenly, a white blaze caught her attention, obliging her to open her blue eyes. Between the adrenaline that passed through her body, her mind could recognize pictures and information in the large strips that were starting to surround her, with an ambiguous white shine, before realizing that it was being injected in her brain at high speeds.

Her howls increased as she tried to close her eyes again. She could see everything as if she had them open, though: faces of people she knew and didn't know, their features as diverse as the flowers on Resembool's meadows; places so far away from her that they could be at the other side of the world and alchemy's techniques as old as time itself; all kind of information was being thrown into her brain, that didn't have time to process it before 10 images more arrived. Her body's temperature elevated while more information was put at her will.

But Winry didn't want information. Her head hurt, as if it was going to crack open at any moment. She opened her eyes.

The only thing she had wanted was a home again.

Soon her surroundings were full of so much knowledge that they turned white, as pure as the chamber that she had been previously. The presence that had spoken to her before appeared on a little hole in her head, still virgin and unscathed from the information bomb. And the blonde knew it with a hesitant realization. This...this was the Truth.

The whistle heightened in her ears when besides the head her whole body started to hurt with a power that she had never felt before; the girl wasn't even sure that it was _pain_. It had spread from her left foot, rising through her leg with agonizing parsimony. Winry dared to look down with certain difficulty before she encountered with a white empty space and traces of skin extinguishing themselves in infinity.

"No!" she said between her shouts, surprised to find her throat sore "Stop it! Please! Stop!"

Even when a silhouette started to form on the horizon the blonde didn't stop to beg for her body to stop being disassembled to end with the pain, if it could be called like that. It was when she felt warm, the smell of grass and forgotten kisses on the forehead, that she noticed the figure that remarked itself against the immaculate tunnel's end. With the forces that were left on her she extended her arm, the tears filling her blue eyes again. She knew she'd help her. If only she could reach her...

"M...mom..." the young alchemist whined, feeling that in any moment she'd graze warm fingers made by the same porcelain as hers. The pain had taken all over her body, and it was just a matter of time for her to lose conscience, to lose herself between all those faces that conformed the long, long line that was time and space. But the palm of the woman's hand was so close to hers...Winry could almost see a pair of eyes, as blue as two forget-me-nots, so identical to hers...a breeze that she didn't feel waved her mother's blonde, curly hair...she even could see a soft smile decorate her delicate features...but the young alchemist couldn't stop crying, because the pain was overwhelming...

Suddenly, she found herself being supported by both of her legs, with the arm outstretched on the empty air. Winry faltered, her knees giving in the shock and the pain. The girl pulled her forehead close to her knees shrinking herself onto the floor. Slowly, the palms of her hands approached her face hidden in the shadows.

She had been so close. But at the same time she hadn't: she hadn't even barely touched the woman's fingers. Her theory of the human transmutation, along with Ed and Al's knowledge, had been correct. Something was missing, though...

"How was it?" asked curiously the voice that received her previously. The blonde got up violently, tears running through her cheeks again: she wouldn't be surprised if she looked to a mirror and saw herself with her face and eyes red. The deity, as the person inside the gates, had none expression on its face. The words, obstructed on her throat, couldn't be expelled of her mouth while she sobbed, an occasional howl escaping from her "I suppose it was worth the toll you paid for"

"Toll...?" she inquired with a husky voice, forcing herself to hold her cries. Winry almost had the impression that Truth was smiling wickedly behind his mask of white and black.

"Equivalent exchange, isn't it? Two limbs for each person that you had the intention of bringing back tonight" it mentioned " _Al_ - _che_ - _mist_ " it emphasized, bringing out each syllable. A mild ache bubbled in her left leg and right arm, making hard to Winry the task of focusing on what Truth was saying. When he ended, with a blast of agony, the blonde realized that she was looking only at her left palm, and she was stumbling, lacking the balance that both of her legs gave her...

Blinking in the gloom, she found herself lying on the ground, unable to get up. Pain traveled through every fiber of her body, making even her breathing a tortuous task. Above the high whistle on her ears and the general bewilderment, she could hear muffled hits and shouts. She felt vaguely the fragrance of blood and the smell of something mildly rotten. Her mind was clouded, incapable to process all the damage done to her mutilated body. Her eyes, empty and unfocused, moved around the room where she was, recognizing it as the basement. A shadow remarked itself against the darkness, moving awkwardly, outstretching an arm to her.

"H...help..." Winry begged with a broken voice and the throat stiff. A portion of her brain was surprised to realize that her cheeks were dry and her voice didn't sound stuffy. A cloud of smoke drifted lazily in the cold air from the body that moved without any control, hidden in the shadows. When her vision cleared enough to detail the silhouette mildly, her eyes widened, swimming in pure horror. She started to hyperventilate. "Some...one...please..." she moaned "this...this wasn't...what I wanted...please..."

As if somebody was listening to her pleadings, the muffled screams and hits increased, being heard each time clearer. It even seemed that, in the bunch of words that the mouths away from her were throwing brutally into the air, there was her name. Her head hurt, her whole body vibrated with pain, and the creature on the corner of the room slipped pathetically over the floor, leaving a trace of blood behind. Suddenly, an explosion boomed in the basement, the door that connected with the rest of the house out of its hinges. Numerous and hurried steps resounded, entering into the room, bringing a river of light with them.

Winry let herself fall into the seas of unconsciousness while the Elric brothers screamed her name, their boots becoming dirty with her blood.

* * *

When Winry woke up and saw a white and immaculate ceiling, she thought she was in front of the Gate of Truth again.

She got up abruptly, breathing laboriously. Ropes restrained her, and Winry had the disastrous impression that they were the same black strips that had obliged her to see the terrible Truth. A scream started to form in her throat while she tried to fight against the chains that tied her, disoriented and dizzy, when a sharp pain passed through her body like a bolt, making her stop short.

She forced herself to calm down and hold steady while her blurry sight cleared, getting used to her surroundings and the amount of light. The blonde breathed deeply, feeling a vague distress on the ribs. She analyzed the room where she was quickly, forbidding herself to lose control, when the young alchemist noticed that she wasn't in front of the Gate of Truth. Her body relaxed, relieved.

She was laying on a comfortable bed that was ambiguously familiar, and the ropes that restrained her were no more than gently bandages and IV cables, the last ones preventing her from leaving the bed. She half-leaned back onto her pillow, half-rested against the wall of the room.

Winry breathed deeply again, blinking diverse times to drive off the dizziness that plagued her. She frowned while she recovered a bit of balance past some minutes.

Something was wrong. Her scowl deepened.

Slowly, like the water flowing lazily in the river on summer, the memories of last night came back to her mind. The transmutation circle, the vague fragrance of blood and putrefaction, Ed and Al's screams...

The pain...the equivalent exchange...

Fearful, she lowered her gaze to her legs, covered by a thick blanket that didn't allow her to see the outlines of her legs. With her arm, she made a gesture to remove the layer.

The blanket didn't move and her right arm didn't appear into view. Did she have it sedated? Perhaps that was the reason why she didn't feel it. Biting her lower lip to focus better, she lifted her arm to remove the carpet. Nothing happened, though.

It was then when she felt the ghostly pain, the cruel tickles that emanated from the empty space that followed her shoulder.

The image of a figure in the gloom, silhouetting against the dark and moving awkwardly through the shadows showed in front of her eyes. Winry gasped, widening her eyes in desperation, uncovering immediately her legs with the left arm, her body complaining with a wave of pain. Only her right limb welcomed her, a big, unfilled space next to it. The young alchemist turned to her right shoulder, that followed into emptiness.

 _No..._

She'd done it. She'd done the Human Transmutation...just to fail miserably and create something that wasn't even _human_ , that slipped between pools of blood stupidly and was unsuccessful even at breathing.

«Two limbs for each person you had the intention of bringing back tonight, alchemist»

Pure dread washed her while she thought of the silhouette that she'd seen before inside the Gates, the one that almost scratched her fingers. The one that, with an emotionless face, in her imagination had gifted her a gentle smile. It could be possible that...that was...her mother's soul?

And she...she had transformed her _into that_...

«This wasn't what I wanted»

She started to cry, the warm and salted tears rolling through her round and childish cheeks, her left hand grasping the bandages that wrapped what was left of her leg. The girl lowered her face, letting her bangs caress her eyelids in comfort, and the blonde hair that fell freely across her back stuck more to her thin and little figure. The image of the thing that she had created formed again in her eyeballs, making her to shut her eyes tightly, to escape of the accusing and miserable gaze of the being that had dragged itself over her basement's floor.

A loud sound startled her, interrupting her cries. It took her a moment to recognize that it was the sound of a door opening. She opened her eyes with fear, meeting with Trisha Elric's kind figure, her generally perfect auburn hair disheveled and tied on a messy bun. A smile formed on her graceful lips, reaching her benevolent green eyes, clouded with astonishment when she entered to the room.

"Winry...you're awake..." she sighed with what seemed relief in her voice. The woman approached carefully, and the young blonde could saw a glimpse of what seemed to be golden eyes before the door closed completely. Trisha's features saddened when she noticed that the blanket that covered her legs was hanging forgotten next to her. "Winry..."

"I'm sorry" the alchemist interrupted her weakly, lowering her gaze, clenching the only fist that she'd left while she felt that the tears populated again her eyes, falling like crystalline streams through her cheeks. Her voice was husky and stuffy, making a hard task to make out what she was saying "I'm _so sorry_ " she sobbed, the force of her weeps shaking her whole body, producing pain. Winry didn't know if she was apologizing to Trisha, to the Elric brothers, to the creature that she had created, to her parents or to herself.

Edward had always said that she was a crybaby. Perhaps he had been right all the time, because in the course of two days, Winry'd cried more than she could imagine.

But she was _really_ sorry.


	2. The Fullmetal Alchemist

Fullmetal Alchemist doesn't belong to me. It is Arakawa-sensei's property.

Hello there! Thank you everybody for your reviews, favorites and follows! I didn't really expect a lot, so thank you! I bring you the first chapter. I had it written already, actually, but I was writing the second chapter. And I, after writing it in Spanish, translate it to English, so... I had to translate anyway xD

 **Wereallconnectedasone:** Thank you! I'm excited too, there are a lot of roles that I still haven't figured out, but I have the main characters ready. And, about your question...it doesn't work like that. But as you were my first review, I'm gonna tell you that Winry's teacher is actually Dominic! _Chan chan chan..._ Thanks for your review!

 **lilaclily00:** Thank you for pointing out that mistake, I hadn't seen it. Seriously? People tell me all the time that I'm good with English, but my country is not exactly a place where there's a high English level, so I don't really know. Nevertheless, thank you! And if you spot another mistake, just tell me and I'll fix it, just like I did with the other one. Thank you for the review!

 **Layla MT:** ¡Hey! Vaya, tengo una lectora en español, qué gusto :) Yo publiqué este fic anteriormente en español, pero luego lo quise cambiar un poco y lo eliminé; sin embargo después decidí re-publicarlo en inglés. ¡Gracias por el review!

 **Quiet Leaf:** Yeah, Ed's the gearhead! Thank you a lot for the review, I hope you'll like the rest of the fic!

English **is not** my mother language. If you find a mistake, feel free to advise me, and I'll fix it when I can :)

Another thing: to my Spanish readers, **I published this on my other account in FanFiction** (the Spanish one), but then I deleted it because I wanted to fix a couple of things. So if you see that, indeed, you did read this in Spanish, then I can assure you that I'm the same person and this isn't a stolen fic :) if you want to confirm, then leave a PM in the account **Cheshire Friki Jackson** , that is where I published the fic.

I hope you like it, and please leave a review! They're free :D

* * *

« _There's a cold heart, buried beneath,_

 _and warm blood, running deep._

 _Secrets ―are mine to keep,_

 _protected by silent sleep_ »

―Sanders Bohlke, _The Weight Of Us_

* * *

In Central City's downtown streets reigned the bustle, coming from the people that moved throughout the city, even though the moon was high in the horizon. The foggy sky due to the smoke and contamination prevented the passers to detail the blinking stars on the firmament. A cool breeze danced, hesitantly, between the avenues, and stopped confused in the alleys and blind streets. The apartments' golden lights, smooth and flat as an apple, poured in rays into the populated highways. A figure, tall and wrapped in a coat, slid into the alleys, out of the accusing lanterns' light, welcoming the lonely shades. Silently, he extracted a piece of chalk from his pockets. Kneeling on the floor, he started to draw; the strokes, as white as his dressing, highlighted against the stony grey of the asphalt.

When he ended, the silhouette got up, observing his creation. A smile was drawn on his lips, while his eyebrows arched in an expression of anticipated victory.

 _Just one more. One more and the Führer will be finished._

"Hey, you! What are you doing?" inquired a soldier loudly that approached to him, jogging slightly. Another military's man followed him closely, grabbing his gun tightly. He laughed casually.

"Me? I was just walking in this alley peacefully. Is this place restricted at night, officer?" he asked with a faint mocking tone. The first soldier winced, uncomfortable, and opened his mouth to make an apology. His partner interrupted him, though, narrowing his eyes suspiciously and looking over the figure's shoulder.

"What's that drawing?" he questioned, getting close. The man's smile vanished, being replaced by a straight face without a hint of teasing.

"None of your business" he answered, approaching to him and touching his skin. Instantly, the soldier turned to ice, the surface reflecting the silver and terse moon on the sky. The other man let his jaw fall in astonishment, his eyes widening dumbfounded. With a trembling hand, he rose a black amber gun that echoed the golden lights coming in torrents from the main street. With the other hand, he brought closer a whistle to his mouth, blowing it hard. The sharp sound bounced on the alley's walls, stunning him.

"The Freezing Alchemist! Here he is!" shouted the soldier loudly, forgetting his previous fear. The alchemist frowned, irritated, and, giving a glance with the corner of his eye to the drawing he did on the ground, he started to run. Soon he left it behind. Voices of other men reached his ears, alerted by the official's whistle that previously had detained him.

"He's over there! Don't let him escape!"

The man rolled his eyes, annoyed, but allowed a smile bloom on his lips while he felt that his shoes soaked wet with the pools of stagnant water that were left from last rain. He ignored two men that blocked his way, tackling them with an ice wall. Then he froze another more ahead, and boiled his partner, who only had time to deliver him a last glance filled with terror before his body fell to the ground with a thud.

The Freezing Alchemist sighed, licking his lips with disappointment. The water was so stylized and elegant that it could kill someone without the need to spill a drop of blood. And though he loved water's attributes—freeze and evaporation—, he couldn't deny that sometimes he adored to watch a crimson spectacle under him, even though it'd stain his neat white dressing.

The high whistle of a sharp object directed to him pulled him out from his thoughts. With grace he dodged it, blinking bewildered. He saw traces of a transmutation in the spear thrown to him, now nailed firmly on the ground. A smile replaced his previous disappointed expression.

"Alchemy" he purred, hearing the steps, heavy for the rage, that approached to him. He lifted his gaze, and his smirk widened.

"You do very nasty things" claimed a voice, her sapphire eyes wandering above the corpses, disgusted. The alchemist laughed, licking his lips.

"It's the beauty of the water's attributes. Its refinement, that allows that the sacrifices to accomplish great things be worthy and stylish, is wonderful" he answered while he arched an eyebrow mockingly "These humans died in the best way possible, as sacrifices for a greater good. After all, that's what Equivalent Exchange is, isn't it?"

The alchemist observed with satisfaction how the white and rounded face of his enemy writhed into indignation. She put together the palms of her hands, frowning with repulsion directed to him, and then she took the spear nailed on the ground between the two. Blue energy, in a way that looked like electricity, spread through the weapon, transforming it into a wrench. The Freezing Alchemist raised his eyebrows, intrigued by his opponent's choice of weapon, but then his face changed to an excited expression.

"Without a transmutation circle, uh?" he noticed, narrowing his eyes in an entertained grin. His adversary kept a neutral expression, but her eyes sparked as if he had shared a joke that only she could understand.

"You can surrender peacefully, you know? Explain your reasons to do this, and maybe that way the military will treat you benevolently. There's no need to do...this" her gaze traveled briefly to the bodies of the dead soldiers in the alley "I really don't want to fight with you" she muttered, crestfallen. The man started to laugh, at the disconcerted glance of his enemy.

"How naive can you be?" he inquired, trying to control his laughs "It's a pity that you don't want to fight, because I do want to fight. The water in your body calls me to be boiled"

Before his opponent could realize what was going on, the alchemist approached to her. The girl avoided him; nevertheless he managed to grab her right arm and, activating his transmutation circle, he waited for her pretty face to transform into a raisin as red as her coat. However, nothing happened. With a punch, the young lady broke free from him, throwing him the wrench. The man uttered a small cry of pain, understanding the weapon choice of his enemy; the bewilderment was more abundant than the pain, though.

"Impossible" he mumbled, stepping back with wide eyes. Nonetheless, a smile formed on his face again, while he arched an eyebrow "Full of surprises, aren't we?"

His adversary snorted, lifting her bangs, of a light blonde, slightly. A metallic gleam could be seen in glimpses between the shreds of what was left of her coat's right sleeve. Her blue eyes shone with irritation, the kindness that she'd shown him previously forgotten in the past.

"You didn't have to ruin my coat" she complained, frowning. The girl observed the scarlet fabric with a stern look before removing the entire cloak completely, letting it fall to the ground, revealing that her right arm was entirely made of metal, ending under the sleeveless white shirt that she wore.

The Freezing Alchemist felt that his smile could reach his ears. He adjusted his hat, which had previously been almost hanging off his head.

"Alchemy without circles of transmutation, an arm made of automail..." he laughed slightly "Are you Winry Rockbell, the Fullmetal Alchemist?"

* * *

"I think I wouldn't be wrong to say that you underestimated your opponent, Winry. You should've read my report before going directly to him. That's not your normal behavior, I must say" sighed the Colonel, scolding with her brown eyes the girl sitting in front of her. The blonde blushed, muttering an apology softly, but her eyes revealed some humiliation for having been defeated by a dirty trick such as create a vapor cloud with the water in the street and escape. A man, standing behind the right side of the Colonel's desk, tried to hide without success his smile, the amusement dancing on his dark eyes, so dark that the iris couldn't be identified and separated from the pupil.

"His name is Solf J. Kimblee" the Colonel informed her, rolling her eyes at her subordinate's attitude "and he was a State Alchemist. He was called the Freezing Alchemist, due to his abilities with water transmutation"

"A... State Alchemist?" asked Winry, confused. The Colonel nodded severely.

"Exactly. He fought beside us during the Ishval Civil War" answered the woman, watching how the girl's features darkened at the mention of the event. The city's muffled noise arrived from the window, interrupting the silence "After that, he abandoned his position as a State Alchemist. Our top priority now, Winry, is to catch this man" she continued, biting her lip to prevent herself to talk more. The young blonde sighed, massaging her temples.

"Well, that's going to be a big problem, because we have no idea of where he is, or where he could've gone" she mumbled, before giving her right arm a fast glance, now covered by the red coat that Kimblee had previously damaged. She could practically feel how the nocturne breeze penetrated in the automail's gears, cooling it. She promised to herself that as soon as she had a place where she could be alone she would give her arm a bit of maintenance.

"Have you had any luck with that?" asked the woman, noticing the movement of the teenager's eyes while her features softened. The young blonde sighed, shaking her head.

"Not at all. I was going to Liore to research something, but that Freezing Alchemist came and...and _that's_ why I didn't read your report..."

Suddenly, the office's mahogany doors opened widely, allowing the white light of the hallway to enter to the space where they were, exposing the silhouette of a woman with long, curly black hair tied in a very loose ponytail. Her face was twisted in a cheerful smile.

"Riza!" she exclaimed with enthusiasm, causing the man next to the Colonel to grin flirty. The blonde woman, unlike her subordinate, smiled to her kindly.

"Hi, Rebecca" she greeted calmly, resting her chin on her hands "What brings you here?"

"I think that the correct question is what brings _you_ here, Riza" replied the other woman, giggling. Then she approached to her, leaning conspiratorially and whispering as if she was telling her a secret "Can it be that my little Colonel finally got herself a boyfriend here in Central?"

The blonde woman laughed, as if she found the question very hilarious. Winry simply observed them, the ghost of a grin fluttering on her lips. When she didn't obtain any answer other than the laugh, Rebecca turned to the young alchemist, widening her smile.

"And you must be young Winry Rockbell! I heard you were around here in Central, but you never know if all the rumors that travel through Headquarters are true" she said, winking to her and taking one of her hands, shaking it with strength and enthusiasm. Winry returned it with the same cheerfulness, smiling "It's an honor to meet the youngest State Alchemist of all times! And a woman, no less. I'm Lieutenant Colonel Rebeca Catalina!"

"Lt. Colonel Catalina, if you have nothing to do around here, it is requested that you leave the room" interrupted the man at Riza's right, with an annoyed sparkle gleaming in his dark eyes. Riza rolled her hazel eyes again, nevertheless the smile didn't leave her lips.

"You're so rude, Roy!" giggled Rebecca, arching her eyebrows in a teasing expression at the impatience of the Colonel's subordinate "You have nothing to be afraid of, though, I'll go when I finish what I came to do" then she turned to the young alchemist, her features softening "I imagine that you don't have a place to stay yet, right? What do you think if you stay in my house? I haven't had any other girl in my apartment since Riza stopped coming long ago!"

Winry gasped, starting to chuckle nervously "There's no need to do that, Lieutenant Colonel! I appreciate the offer, but I don't want to bother to you. I'll find a place to sleep tonight, don't worry. Besides, if the Freezing Alchemist shows up, I'll have to..."

"Nonsense!" exclaimed the dark haired woman, clucking her tongue in disapproval and moving her hand in a nonchalant gesture, making her perfect ebony curls to jump on her back. A bright smile formed on her face "C'mon! I'm sure that you'll love it. You won't be any bother; it'll rather be a pleasure having you there with me, sometimes living alone sucks. And I'm sure that that alchemist will be passed out completely after fighting with you, so I don't think he'll be showing up until tomorrow."

"Go with her, Winry" intervened the Colonel, smiling "You know that if any event happens we'll alert you. We'll start the search tomorrow morning. Enjoy the night with Rebecca" just as Riza saw that the young blonde opened her mouth to refute, she stepped forward to say firmly:"it's an order"

Winry sighed, resignedly, and reluctantly she walked to the door, smiling shyly at the Lieutenant Colonel's excited squeals about how they were going to love this girl's night. The door of Riza's office had barely closed when Rebecca winked mischievously at her, approaching the girl.

"And tell me, Winry, is there some boy that you know out there that could go out with me?"

* * *

"Get a doctor immediately! There are 5 men seriously injured! Inform Headquarters!" shouted a soldier running, his blue uniform standing out in the crowd that was organized in a circle, at a respectful distance, from the crime scene. The sunset's amber light slid through the city, caressing warmly the skins of whom crossed in its way; the shadows that grouped in the corners and alleys waited eagerly for the decline to start spreading, though. An almost nonexistent breeze grazed the faces of the curious eyes that peeked through the crowd to see what was the source of all the commotion, wandering without any course.

Winry made a disgusted grimace in front of the corpse of one of the soldiers that hadn't had so much luck as others. His hands seemed tense, arched in unnatural angles, and his face was hidden behind the shadows that his hat gave him; the young blonde couldn't gather the courage to take it off and see what was left of his face. Even now the corpse kept expelling clouds of vapor, dissolving later in the air just a few centimeters above the body. She couldn't wait for the forensic team to come and to, at least, bury the cadaver with dignity.

 _These humans died in the best way possible, as sacrifices for a greater good. After all, that's what Equivalent Exchange is, isn't it?_

Winry bit her lower lip. Soon, she felt a comforting hand on her shoulder, and she turned to see Rebecca's worried face.

"Are you okay, Winry?" she asked softly. The alchemist smiled slightly and nodded, assuring the Lieutenant Colonel that everything was fine. Then she let her features to return to their previous state.

"It's just that... it's really horrible" she explained, looking at the man's murdered body "It's a vapor explosion" she informed to the woman "When the water's temperature increases, it reacts explosively. And as a 70% of the human body is composed by water..."

Rebecca nodded, allowing her to leave the sentence mid-air. Winry sighed.

"Let's go" the Lieutenant Colonel say, getting away from the corpse "We have to find that Freezing Alchemist"

Suddenly, an explosion, followed by a cloud of smoke and debris, filled the peaceful afternoon's breeze, partially preventing the sun's golden radiance to reach the streets. Screams spread through the avenue, though they were mildly distorted to the stunned hears by the explosion. The Fullmetal Alchemist blinked, sliding on the ground, before turning with a gasp to direct herself to the source of the explosion. She barely heard Rebecca's yell, telling her to go back.

The dust's clouds swayed her red coat, that waved behind her, making tickles to the black pants that she wore. Due to the speed and the wind, a bit of her right shoulder's automail was visible for curious eyes. She kept the palms of her hands close, going into an alley where battle sounds were heard. Just as the noise indicated her, Kimblee was there, with a delirious smile dancing on his lips. In front of him, clenching her fists and with a face as stoic as always, was Olivier Mira Armstrong, the Strong Arm Alchemist. Her long, platinum blonde hair cut by daggers floated on her back due to the air currents, highlighting her icy blue eyes that dreaded for battle and shone with powerful ash.

"Major!" shouted the young blonde, noticing that Kimblee made a movement with his hands. He stopped abruptly, repairing at her presence. His smirk widened.

"Seeing you again, Miss Rockbell? I hope that you know that we men don't like stubborn women" he claimed teasingly. Major Armstrong approached to him and, elegant and powerful like a blizzard, tried to hit him. Nevertheless, the Freezing Alchemist dodged her gracefully, throwing a canteen to the sky. Winry barely had time to clap and transmute a wall that would protect her against the boiling water.

"That damned coward!" the young blonde heard exclaim Major Armstrong while she got up and removed pieces of dust from her face and hair, tied in a high ponytail "C'mon, Fullmetal Alchemist" ordered the woman, looking at her contemptuously "We have to find him before he kills more soldiers, that are at least braver than him"

Winry nodded and followed her, straightening her back before turning to the space that they were leaving, detailing the alley full of debris, believing to see white glimpses above the ocher ground.

* * *

"I knew you were planning something, so I came to check" declared Winry, tensing her arms while she put her feet firm on the earth, prepared to fight. She narrowed her eyes, observing the drawing on the ground while she positioned herself better in the alley's entry "Apparently, I had luck"

The figure of the Freezing Alchemist started to tremble for the laughs, while he got up from kneeling on the ground. The stars shimmered in his blue eyes like static snowflakes on the night air, and the saliva that was left on his lips as a residue after licking them sent occasional silver gleams, the main light coming from the moon. The wind that moved his white dressings made them see as if they were liquid silver, due to the undulations that were visible on the light fabrics. His black hair, tied on a high ponytail, stood out like a crow's wing over fresh snow.

The voice of Major Armstrong, clear and cutting like glass, traveled from the other exit of the alley, preventing Kimblee to say another comment impregnated with scoff.

"Don't even think that you can escape" the alchemist said firmly. The man just started to chuckle again, and that was the laugh that, for Winry, was the most disturbing one that the man had done until the moment. Olivier seemed to sense it too, because she clenched her fists and started to take impulse to attack him.

"Who said 'escaping'?" he asked amused before he extended his arms and activated the transmutation circle under him. The blonde woman that was directed to him stopped short, observing bewildered the red current that was thrown out of the circle, sliding and falling to the ground. Winry stepped back, astonished, and with the corner of her eye she caught another red glow that was coming from other place. When she turned to the main street, with a fast movement that left her neck in pain, she noticed that it wasn't just one red glow, there were many, each of them identical to the one that Kimblee had just activated. The young blonde gasped, letting her arms fall down for the shock.

"Simultaneous alchemical reactions" whispered the Strong Arm Alchemist, getting out of her stupor. Winry shook her head, her features twisted in a skeptical expression.

"But...impossible...that is..."she babbled stupidly, without being able to organize her cohesively her thoughts and words. Then, a cry, so full of passion and fear that her voice went off various tunes, got out of her mouth without knowing that it was born in her throat. "The Philosopher's Stone!"

Just when she pronounced those words, the red glow shifted, with the temperature decreasing and the humidity increasing, into a gelid blue blaze, reaching vaguely white, sending currents of wind with ethereal sparkles that looked as if they were stars or diamonds dancing on the blizzard. She couldn't see her alchemist companion anymore, hidden behind the ghostly glow of the transmutation. The hairs on her left arm bristled, suddenly feeling the cold. It was instants later that the young blonde realized that the ethereal sparkles on the air currents were fragments of snow and ice.

When she looked to the ground, she noticed that a white ice, that lighted up the night's shadows with its own radiance, advanced through the alley.

"Major Armstrong! Take cover!" she could scream blindly before stepping back. Kimblee's shadow silhouetted against the blueish gleam of the ice, that had on the inside a red beating heart: the transmutation circle. She adjusted her gloves and coat, searching for a better protection against the cold.

"Ah, water's really the best of all the elements, isn't it?" sighed Kimblee, delighted "The blood staining the snow with pink, the water getting rid of the human being as if it was no more than a mundane leaf. Everything flows, and it eliminates everything. The water, such an stylized and elegant element that not even bothers in making humans bleed..."

"You're insane!" the young alchemist shouted, snorting, just about to put together her hands "You're going to destroy Central City with this madness. Is that what you really want?" the Freezing Alchemist turned to her as if in his delirious moment he had forgotten that she was there. The smile he carried widened even more.

"Winry Rockbell! Military's Dog and State Alchemist! You really don't have any idea of what this country is trying to do, do you?" he asked mockingly "If you did, maybe you'd understand"

"What this country is trying to do?" the girl repeated, confused. Before Kimblee opened his mouth, though, a shadow jumped from the other side of the ice wall in construction, falling directly on the man and opening, at the same time, a hole on the ground. Then the woman lifted him, sending him with a punch to the main street, Winry at the end of the alley avoiding him skillfully.

The iron railings that limited with the river creaked when the black haired man's body crashed with them. A strand of blood streamed from his mouth to his chin, the scarlet drop making an arc before falling on his white dressing. The blood didn't transform into pink; it kept on being of a deep crimson, even over the light color.

"It's over, Kimblee" announced Major Armstrong, approaching with a confident and slow step. The alchemist's cold eyes traveled to Winry, and she startled as she found doubt in them "Fullmetal...this kind of alchemy..."

"I know, Major" the blonde answered, forgetting the previous man's speech "Where's the Philosopher's Stone?"

"Oh, we're pretty smart, aren't we?" muttered Kimblee, wiping the blood on his lip. It sent shivers to the young alchemist's back to see that the man was still smirking, his white hat forgotten long ago on the ground, buried under ice.

"She asked you a question" the blonde woman intervened, taking a step forward " _Where's the Philosopher's Stone?_ If you don't answer, I will force you to do it"

Kimblee started to laugh. And he just kept laughing. Armstrong, losing her patience, took him by his coat, getting close to his face. Winry didn't know what was worse: Kimblee's laughter or having the breath of Oliver Armstrong, that was impregnated with blood and iron, in his face.

It was in that moment that she noticed the movement of the man's arm, and the faint glow on his hand, coming from the circle of transmutation.

Winry didn't stop to see how the Freezing Alchemist freed himself from the Major's grab and ascended to the surface of his moving glacier, neither did she stop to detail the expression of pure rage that had the face of the blonde woman. Her mind just had an impulse: run.

The lanterns passed by her sides like the shooting starts she used to see at summer in Resembool. At some point, in a street large enough for the ice at its full-scale to not graze any apartment or building, Armstrong stopped behind her, clenching her fists and activating the transmutations circles on the metal gloves that covered her hands. Winry paused more ahead, observing the Major turning the moving wall into pieces of ice so little that they would be drops of water in no time.

The young blonde couldn't stop her jaw from falling, her mouth doing a perfect "o", when, instead of destroying the ice, the giant glacier diverted its rout, damaging dozens of apartments in the process. The civilian's screams cut through the air, sounding desperate and broken. Winry didn't want to wonder how many injured there would be. The ice crackled: through all the city the material made a dreadful and noisy sound, moving as fast as the river rises during a spring storm. Skirts waved due to the women running terrified, children cried alone and helpless on the streets and hats flew through all the city, which temperature had decreased a couple of degrees. The girl was abruptly thankful that it was summer.

The young alchemist suddenly noticed that the wintry walls weren't motioning at random. The walking glaciers moved only for the goal of...connecting themselves, no matter if they destroyed buildings or urban complexes. Against Central's polluted sky and the lanterns that were left, the silhouette of Kimblee was seen on the biggest ice going directly to...

 _Headquarters!_ she noted with consternation, with a sick feeling dancing in a death march inside her now dry mouth. She headed to the now recomposed Armstrong, who looked at the glaciers with resentment on her features.

"Major Armstrong, I'm going to stop Kimblee. Please, take care of the transmutation circles. I'm sure that Colonel Hawkeye will arrive soon" the Fullmetal Alchemist asked, her voice faltering slightly because she was likely giving orders to Olivier Mira Armstrong, something that not everybody lived to see through. The Major's gelid eyes, that competed with the glaciers' cold, fixed on her, before nodding severely.

"Understood"

As soon as the words left her mouth, Winry's feet mobilized through the city's streets sunk in chaos. The muscles in her right leg were sore and pounding when she found herself in a point where she could reach the Freezing Alchemist transmuting the earth. She clapped, and then let her hands to touch the stone. The young blonde felt immediately that the earth underneath her raised, allowing her to do a pronounced curve on the air, letting her jump before the ground divided, falling in pieces to the city. When her boots touched the ice, she felt herself slipping, but somehow she found a way to have balance on the treacherous crystal. Kimblee, noticing her presence, gave her a glance between annoyance and amusement, turning to her. With a knot in her stomach, she realized that the frozen water beneath her was still moving. Shakily, she got up.

"Did you not hear me when I said that we men don't like stubborn women?" he questioned mockingly, shrugging, before attacking her. Winry transmuted the snow under her, letting the pieces fall down to the city; however Kimblee transmuted it again, reaching the top anew and turning the ice into a boiling water rain. The young blonde felt her skin _burn_ , nevertheless she drew strength to dodge Kimblee's new attack, falling on her butt in the ice, the cold just making the bruise to hurt more. Suddenly, she felt that the other alchemist had an iron grip on her right leg, and while she tried to free herself, the transmutation circle on the black haired man's hand shone, producing a vapor cloud.

"There go my pants" she sighed between the ragged breaths, watching that from the knee to the ankle her pants were made shreds, discovering a metal leg under the dressing. Kimblee stepped back, bewildered, and for once his eyes didn't sparkle with amusement. His features relaxed, transforming into a straight expression.

Winry was barely getting up again, putting together her hands to attack, when she heard the Freezing Alchemist's mumbles.

"An arm and a leg made of automail...doing alchemy without a transmutation circle..." Kimblee's eyes widened in realization, his lips formulating a wicked smile "You _did it_. You did what's forbidden, didn't you?" he asked, starting to laugh. Winry stepped back, noticing that her right leg was trembling.

"I... I..." hesitated the young blonde, her breathing turning erratic. The laugh of her enemy increased.

"You decided to practice the forbidden alchemy. The Human Transmutation!" he exclaimed, and as he said it the young alchemist felt that her entire body, even the automail parts, trembled "Tell me, Winry Rockbell. It was your parents? Or maybe a friend?"

Suddenly, the memories of that night returned to her. She waking up with such an intense pain that she could barely open her eyes, with the head spinning for the information given that made her brain feel like it might explode at any moment. Her long her staining with blood, dyeing of vermilion for the mix of both colors. Her body squirming, experimenting so much pain that her mind couldn't process it. She didn't know how much time she had passed there, nor if she had been crying and screaming for a minute or for hours. The only thing she knew was when Ed and Al opened the basement's door ―the house's light bathing the stairs in gloom, the lamps hurting her dilated pupils―, observing with tears in their eyes and shattered screams their best friend with her sapphire glance lost in the ceiling, flooded on a crimson pool...

And...and _the thing_ that squirmed in the corner, hidden by the shadows...

 _Focus_ , she scolded herself, before noticing that crystalline tears were rolling through her cheeks. She lowered her head, allowing her bangs to hide her eyes. With a stuffy voice, clenching her fists, she declared to Kimblee, with a tone that sounded more like Edward Elric's than hers "You've given your first step to go to hell"

The man had barely stopped laughing when she pounced against him, punching him so fast that he didn't even have a moment to transmute in self-defense. She sought to hit him with her automail limbs, but the other alchemist was also a good fighter, avoiding her when he could. The rage made all of her body tremble, and each punch had maybe a bit more of force than she would've wanted, missing a lot of them for the adrenaline cursing through her veins. But it wasn't fury against Kimblee: it was against herself.

She threw Kimblee off the glacier with a kick, now all of his light clothes stained with spots of scarlet blood. Descending carefully, she positioned herself in front of him, alert.

"It's over, Kimblee. There's no more water for you" she said, approaching him with her features remaining emotionless "you can give yourself up peacefully if you wish it. Maybe that way the military won't kill you"

The man coughed and tarnished the asphalt with blood. A smile blossomed on his lips.

"Oh, Fullmetal Alchemist, I know when battles are lost" he stated, amused "nevertheless you forget that I won't be going with the military in any way...and that a 70% of the body is composed by water"

Winry barely saw when the weapons made with Kimblee's own blood cut through the skin of her left shoulder, making her fall on her knees. When she started to feel dizzy, though, the Freezing Alchemist broke the blood blades, looking at her with a grave expression.

"This won't be the last time that we'll see, Winry Rockbell. When you understand what happens with this country..." his face recreated a wicked smile "you'll need me"

His smile disappeared with the other shadows of the night, his limping steps losing themselves with the many others that desperately ran away from the ice walls that besieged the city. The young blonde pulled out the rest of the sharp objects that were still on her skin, and started to follow him, when she realized that the ice walls were grazing the Headquarters. Gathering all the energy that was still in her body, she tried to destroy all the glacier she could until the transmutation circles were eradicated.

 _What happens in this country..._ she thought with uncertainty, stealing a glance to the tall walls of the Headquarters that she was protecting.

* * *

"So Kimblee escaped" sighed Winry, leaning in the pillow that was on the hospital's bed where she was. She inspired the place's air, that had a vague fragrance of disinfectant and aloe vera. Her metal fingers barely touched the bandages on her left shoulder, under them the scar caused by the blood of the Freezing Alchemist closing.

"Yes" confirmed Rebecca, arranging a couple of rebel curls that made tickles on her face, moved by the air currents coming from the open window. "Thanks to Major Armstrong and Riza we could destroy the transmutation circle, though you helped to prevent a part of the Headquarters to go under ice. Thanks for not giving me a vacation, by the way" the woman exhaled slowly "We got search teams looking through all the city, but everything points that Kimblee left Central"

The teenager let out a resignation moan, disappointed. She had been so close...perhaps after defeating the black haired alchemist she could have snatched from him the Philosopher's Stone...

 _You really don't have any idea of what this country is trying to do, do you?_

Rebecca frowned, concerned.

"What are you going to do now, Winry?" a mocking smirk bloomed on her face "I heard it is not your type to stay in hospitals, but you know that my house is always open to you...as long as you bring boys, of course"

The blonde allowed herself to laugh and shake her head.

"I won't stay in Central. Tomorrow I'll take a train to Liore" she narrowed her eyes, giving her right arm a quick glance "There are a couple of things that I want to investigate"

Unlike Riza, Rebecca didn't acknowledged the fast movement of her eyes. She smiled to her mischievously.

"Oh, Winry, I know that you plan to keep to yourself all the boys in Amestris! You're so evil. And I'll stay here single..."

The Fullmetal Alchemist let out a laugh, despite that moving her shoulder sent pain impulses to all the zone. Nevertheless, a phrase was still floating, impassive, on her subconscious.

 _"This won't be the last time that we'll see, Winry Rockbell. When you understand what happens with this country..." the bloody face of the Freezing Alchemist recreated a wicked smile "you'll need me"_


	3. Lost in the Fire

Fullmetal Alchemist doesn't belong to me. It is Arakawa-sensei's property, not mine.

Hi everyone! I really, _really_ owe you all a big apologize. I'm truly sorry that I haven't been able to update this fic. Between school and all the other activities I do I haven't had time for anything, and then I just didn't really want to translate the chapter. I'm on summer vacation now, though, so I'll be updating more frequently! I'm really grateful for all the reviews, favorites and follows. If you're still following this fic, I hope you'll like this chapter! I've been stuck translating it (I actually wrote it pretty fast), so I don't exactly know how it turned out. I promise you that the next chapter will be arriving soon, though!

 **Quiet Leaf:** Thank goodness you pointed out about those mistakes. Turns out, in Spanish "terso" means "smooth", so I confused the words when I was writing the chapter xD "Mayor" is "Major". I knew that the spelling was similar, not identical, but my English corrector didn't say anything about the word "mayor" so I thought that perhaps it was identical and I was wrong. If you hadn't told me I would've never figured it out, I'm so embarrassed, but thank you, nonetheless :) Kimblee is going to play a pretty important part on the fic. I hope you'll like this chapter and thank you for the review :D

 **Wereallconnectedasone:** I guess you will have to see in the next chapters :) Thanks for the review!

 **lilaclily00:** Rebecca is actually a character from Brotherhood xD albeit a very secondary one, she's Riza's bestfriend. That's why I thought she'd be perfect for Hughes' role. Soy de Venezuela :) tu español es bastante bueno, sobre todo tomando en cuenta que vives en un país de habla anglosajona. Siempre es una alegría conocer a una hermana latina :D Thanks for the corrections, I had doubts about those words. I just have a good vocabulary because when I'm writing in Spanish I'm always looking for synonyms (that's a thing that I learned on school: if I repeated a word in the same paragraph they would make me write it again) and that habit stays with me on English. Thank you for the review!

 **Guest:** Me alegra que hayas seguido la versión en español :) espero que te guste ésta. ¡Gracias por tu review!

English is not my mother language. If you find a mistake, whether it's spelling or grammar, feel free to advise me and I'll fix it when I can :)

I hope you like the chapter. And, please, leave a review! They're free :D

* * *

« _Do you understand that we will never be the same again?_

 _The future's in our hands and we will never be the same again_ »

―Bastille, _Things We Lost In The Fire._

* * *

 _Four years ago_

Riza Hawkeye had never felt so uncomfortable in a town as she did in Resembool.

The afternoon's sun shined through the cloudless sky of mid autumn, while a fresh breeze whispered happily between the trees and large fields. The meadows, green as the vigorous grass of summer, were rejuvenated by the cool wind, just a few dried leaves revealing the season where Amestris was. The idyllic sight, with the sunlight returning the warmth snatched away by the low temperatures, looked like a paradise taken out from the pages of a fairy tale book. If she tried, she could even hear the soft melody that hummed peacefully the trees, blending with the dancing air.

It was unsettling.

"It's incredible that after all that has happened, there still exists a place like this in Amestris" commented a figure behind her, his deep voice harmonizing with the whisper of Resembool's mellow hills. Riza nodded absently, increasing her pace, tucking her hands inside the pockets of the military's coat. The weather was perfect to, with only a snap of her fingers, the grass to start burning, morphing soon into agonizing ebony ashes that disfigured in screams and the smell of burned corpses...

The woman, with a blink, forced herself to come back to reality, breaking the chain of thoughts that was taking place in her mind. She released an almost imperceptible sigh while a bird sung happily, flying carelessly above their heads.

"Do you really think that we're going to find the famous alchemist of the rumors, Lt. Colonel?" spoke the voice again, jogging slightly to keep his steps matched with hers. The woman lifted her face, her hazel eyes casting a glance to her partner.

"I don't know, 2nd Lieutenant" she sighed, meeting with the obsidian eyes of her subordinate. Their hard boots left a trace of trampled grass, hurting the endless meadows. It was as if the town's lands had the knowledge that none of them belonged there; as if they knew who they were and the crimes that both had committed. Riza clenched her fists inside the pockets of the coat, frowning "The locals were pretty kind, though; nice enough to tell us where this alchemist lives"

"I'd say that they were rather perplexed" cut the Second Lt., the corners of his mouth rising slightly "The military's not welcomed in such a peaceful place"

"Do you believe that there can exist a bloodless place in Amestris, Second Lieutenant?" Riza inquired, feeling lightly fatigued at the memory of the faint fear that, hidden, had danced through the eyes of the town's inhabitants. Suddenly, above Resembool's gentle emerald hills the figure of a building silhouetted against the horizon, the pale yellow of the walls contrasting with the sky's deep blue "Look, I think that's the place" she pointed while she started to climb the slight hillside that led to the house. The path was neglected and mistreated, as if no one had had the intention to head towards there for a long time. As they approached the residence, the Lt. Colonel's experimented sight noticed that the walls were peeled, and there were holes in the roof and windows. A worn out sign announced, with discolored letters, _Automail._

Roy frowned.

"Seems that no one has been around here for a while" he commented, voicing out loud the woman's thoughts. If Riza tried and deteriorated more the house in her head, transforming the immaculate blue sky into an opaque and grey rainy day, she could imagine that she was returning to her father's house.

She closed her eyes while both arrived to the porch. Those were memories that she preferred to keep buried in her mind.

Opening her chocolate eyes, the woman approached the house's door, green as the grass under them, that in other time she was sure that would've given her a beautiful and welcoming sensation at visiting the place. The knocks that hit the wooden surface resounded, hollow, in the construction's silence. The Lieutenant Colonel waited for a couple of seconds, but when it was clear that nobody was going to answer she sighed, disappointed.

"There isn't anyone at home" she affirmed, turning back. Nevertheless, her subordinate stopped her, deepening his scowl.

"Wait a minute, Lt. Colonel Hawkeye" he asked, reaching the gate. Turning the knob hard, the house's entry opened with a shriek that made Riza blink multiple times while a disgusted grimace was being drawn on her face, interrupting the placid peace of the town. Roy shook his hand, stiff of the force used to access to the inside of the residence; however a satisfied grin danced on his mouth "Someone hasn't oiled the door for a long time..."

"May I ask why you have decided to invade private property, Second Lieutenant?" asked the woman with a slight smile, passing to the house hall, although she already had the answer to her question. The man shrugged, but a sly smirk escaped from his lips.

"You never know what's behind an old house, Lt. Colonel" he explained, entering after her. The gesture on his features vanished as he straightened up "If there's someone in this place, it should've heard us with that door..."

Riza examined the inside of the house, the furniture covered with grime and the area sunk in gloom, the darkness caused by the closed curtains. She started to venture more, detecting some stairs that climbed to the second floor and an adjoining large room: it had a long table that indicated the dinning room in a side, and sofas in the other, identifying the parlor. A fireplace rested in the middle of both spaces, and the woman realized that it was specifically there to bathe all the area with warm and light. She adverted that her footsteps and Roy's were lifting vast clouds of dust that, judging by the smell, had been reposing there for a long time.

"A person can live in a house that in the outside is completely wrecked," she announced, analyzing the kitchen vaguely, that was as desolated as the rest of the building "but it's impossible for so much dust to accumulate if someone lived here"

The ebony-haired man sighed, disappointed.

"I guess then that there isn't anything left in here for us..." he said, pacing around, giving a sidelong glance to the stairs, as if he was weighting the prospect of going upstairs "Have you considered the possibility that the locals tried to trick us, Lt. Colonel?"

"No" she admitted, frowning, remembering the damaged sign in front of the old house while she backed on her steps "But our reports said that her grandmother was an automail mechanic, didn't they? Outside there was a..."

The woman interrupted herself, stopping short. Carefully, she bent down to the wooden floor, sorrow barely brushing her face while she touched it; it was of a warm mahogany that looked like the tree trunks on summer, and Riza imagined that, being clean and polished, it'd provide a welcoming sensation to each one of the people who'd arrive to the house. She removed the thick layer of dirt that covered it, her hand staining with a deep gray. Without having any veil between her and the floor, she identified the object that caught her attention. Her features twisted into a scowl; her gaze, now alert, analyzed the place again.

"Lieutenant Colonel?" called her Roy, beginning to climb the stairs, polluting the air with a smell absolutely different to the cool breeze from outside: it was a sickening fragrance, stagnant, as if the sun nor the wind had touched it once.

"I've just found a stain of dried blood on the floor" she informed him, standing up completely and shaking her hand against the military's coat to clean it "It seems that it has some time there. Looks like you weren't wrong about bursting in this place, Second Lieutenant"

The man's muffled voice reached her from upstairs "I told you that you never know what's hiding at the back of an old and worn out door" he reminded her humorously, however Riza could hear the tension behind her subordinate's words. The woman started to revise the sectors of the first deck of the building, feeling her short blonde hair getting dirt with the dust particles that floated, free, in the air. The sunlight, resembling golden threads, leaked through the closed curtains and the holes in the windows.

The Lieutenant Colonel frowned when she encountered an open door that she hadn't seen previously. The wood, dark as night, contrasted with the rest of the house, and lead towards some stairs that faded into a basement immersed in shadows. When she advanced, she realized that the gate was out of its hinges, forced from the outside. She aimed her gaze to the stairs in gloom and, carefully, proceeded to head for the basement.

Each tread creaked, the sound painfully loud to the blonde's ears. After a couple of steps, she couldn't see a thing, her eyes blinded by dust and shadows. Blindly, and sighing for thinking that it wouldn't be as dark as it seemed, the woman searched for a light switch; however she didn't find any (and she honestly wouldn't be surprised to discover that the electricity didn't work). Praying internally that there were no flammable substances nor gas leaks, she ignited a little flare on her hand, making it dance over her fingertips, covered by the glove where it was engraved the transmutation circle. The fire bathed the room with light, revealing broken lamps on the ceiling.

Riza exhaled deeply while she focused on going downstairs, trying to notice if there was, indeed, someone inside the basement. The room proved to be as empty as the rest of the house, though, with the exception of a diagram drawn on the ground that looked like a big transmutation circle.

The Lieutenant Colonel was so stunned that she lost the control over the dancing flame on her hand, making it disappear and immersing the place in shadows again. She uttered a gasp while she tripped with the last stair, falling over the ground. With her hands trembling and trying to activate the transmutation circle to create another light's source, she got up. When things were visible enough again, she stepped back, horrified, recognizing the circle graved on the ground.

"What the hell does this mean?!" the woman whispered, detailing it with her hazel eyes, wishing to be wrong.

In front of her lied, damaged and covered with dust, the transmutation circle to make the Human Transmutation.

* * *

The gelid's sundown wind whispered throughout the hills threatened by the growing darkness of the night. The shadows increased gradually, stretching out and rising from the corners where they had been confined during the day. Roy's black cloak fluttered behind him, the approaching night attempting to reach the fabric's color-scheme.

Riza didn't take long in identifying the house on the hill that the locals had indicated to them, confused on seeing both again. Making an effort to recompose herself after the shock given in the old construction, the woman had asked them, without being short of breath, about the owner of the Rockbell residence, the famous alchemist.

"Oh!" had realized a chubby woman, interrupting her conversation with the two men that had previously granted them directions "You mean Winry, don't you? No wonder that you found her house deserted, she doesn't live there since a year ago. People say that she stopped living there because some kind of terrible accident happened, but I believe that it was because the poor girl couldn't bear being alone in that big house"

"Did she leave town?" had inquired Roy, rising an eyebrow. One of the men that had been chatting with the woman shook his head, scratching the back of his neck.

"No" he'd denied, smiling embarrassed "We apologize for giving you the wrong directions. You said that you were looking for the _Rockbell residence_ , not Winry. Nowadays she's living with the Elrics. Search for the cemetery and further on you'll find their house. It's white and pretty modest, much smaller than the Rockbell's"

Riza had nodded, handing them over the best smile she could make at the moment in gratitude, assuring the men that had given them directions earlier that there weren't any hard feelings at all. Both had turned around, following the instructions that the locals had suggested them. Now, they'd just passed the rows of gravestones that wrapped the cemetery with shadows, the ground verdant like in the rest of Resembool's meadows, the trees lulling the deceased into an eternal sleep. Up ahead, as the natives had guaranteed them, was a house on a hill, the lamps in the inside on, even though it still received some beams of light from the agonizing sun.

The Lieutenant Colonel increased her pace, climbing the hill, that was much more precipitous than the one that led to the Rockbell house. Her subordinate followed her closely, his steps as severe as hers. Despite the growing night, the woman could detail the building perfectly: the neat and smooth white that covered the walls; the windows clean and open, making way for the fresh breeze and the sunlight; the roof, as red as a ripe apple; the yellow flowers on the window's ledges; and a vacillating swing hanging from the robust tree next to the house, being pushed by the wind that ran free throughout the hills.

"I assume that we won't find this one empty" Roy commented, tension disguised behind his words. Riza nodded curtly. Both went over the path, maintained and preserved, that ended in the house's door.

When they arrived to the green gate that welcomed them graciously, the blonde was almost running. Catching her breath, she lifted her hand, knocking on the wooden surface a total of three times. The hammerings reverberated in the silence, but unlike the ones made in the Rockbell house, these were answered seconds after by a woman who opened the door softly.

"May I help you?" she asked with a good-hearted smile. Her long walnut brown hair rested over her shoulder, tied loosely with an elastic band at the end. Through the open door, the hall's light poured over their faces, lighting up their surroundings.

"Are you Winry Rockbell?" demanded Riza as politely as she could, while she put a hand over Second Lieutenant Mustang's shoulder, who seemed impatient to burst into the house. The woman's graceful features contorted into an expression of astonishment, stepping back. Then she shook her head, moving forward to observe them better.

"No, my name's Trisha Elric" she informed, introducing herself; the Lieutenant Colonel could see that she worried her bottom lip, though, unsure about letting them in "What's doing the military here?"

"We've received information that the alchemist Winry Rockbell lives here. We're looking for her" the blonde clarified, sightly more relaxed at the woman's calming emerald gaze "My name's Riza Hawkeye, Lt. Colonel Riza Hawkeye, and this is my subordinate, Second Lieutenant Roy Mustang. We need to know with strict urgency if Winry Rockbell is here"

Trisha opened her mouth to answer, her face hardening lightly, when a black bolt passed next to her, running as if it was pursuing desperately the dying sun. Second Lt. Mustang jumped, startled, analyzing the green innocent hills and barely touching with his hand the grip of the gun in the holster that he'd attached to his waist. The Lt. Colonel hurried to snap her fingers, looking around frenetically to know what was attacking them and from where.

The blonde took a couple of seconds before realizing that the thing that had escaped from the house had been a dog. She lowered her hand hesitantly. The man at her side relaxed his arms, nevertheless the alert kept dancing in his obsidian eyes. The woman at the doorstep sighed, exhausted, an apologetic smile forming on her lips.

"I apologize about Den. She's really a good dog, it's just that sometimes...she doesn't like to live here" she explained, observing the spot that was the animal extinguish between a sea of meadows and hills. The Lt. Colonel stepped forward with the intentions to apologize, but Trisha stopped her, raising her hand "Don't worry, Lt. Colonel Hawkeye, this has occurred a couple of times already. We're going to take care of that afterwards"

Riza wondered vaguely how they could know where to search the dog precisely when Roy overtook her, looking over the brunette's shoulder to see the inside of the house.

" _We?_ " he asked, rising his eyebrows "Does that mean that Winry Rockbell is here?"

Before Trisha could answer, a voice traveled from the corridor, steps descending hastily the stairs. Breathless, a boy stood next to the woman, his short blonde hair messed by the race. His face was twisted into a concerned expression.

"Mom, has Den run away again?" he questioned, his childish voice sounding as tired as his mother's. The woman bent down to be at his height, smiling sadly.

"Yes, honey, Den has escaped again. Don't worry, I'm positive that she'll be back for dinner" she assured him, however the statement gave the impression that it was more like a doubt that both shared. The kid nodded slowly, not convinced at all. Lifting his gaze and blinking, his exotic golden eyes, veiled by a green mist, acknowledged the presence of two strangers, tall and wrapped in robes as dark as the approaching night. Riza smiled to him kindly; the infant kept staring blankly at her, though. Second Lieutenant Mustang cleared his throat, wincing uncomfortable.

"Who are they?" the child inquired cautiously, looking at them suspiciously. The blonde woman was surprised by his cold answer, nevertheless she recomposed her face. Trisha seemed taken aback by her son's attitude as well; however, out of the three adults, it was Roy the one who responded him, narrowing his eyes (so fast that Riza doubted in first place if he'd done it).

"We're part of the military" he explained changing his demeanor, smiling slightly and indicating vaguely with the hand his uniform "And we're looking for a very important person, someone famous. We're searching for a famous alchemist, Winry Rockbell"

Though the black-haired man had spoken with a soft and velvet voice, the child jerked away from them, looking at both as if suddenly they suffered an infectious disease that banned them from human contact. The infant looked at his mother with alert and desperation, moving back to the house. The woman straightened, smiling apprehensively and making reassuring motions towards her son.

"Calm down, Alphonse. What kind of behavior is this one? Your brother's generally the one that behaves like this" she said humorously; that didn't seem to serene the boy, though, that giving them one last sidelong glance returned running upstairs. The brunette smiled apologetically for the second time in the evening, although in her green eyes danced a spark of concern.

"Let me guess: he doesn't act like that normally" Riza almost sighed, sneaking a look of the stairs. Then she turned her hazel glance to the woman on the door again. Unlike her, Roy didn't remove his eyes from the stairs. Low murmurs reached her ears, muffled by the house's walls: there were definitely more people on the construction. The man frowned.

"Your son recognized the name, Mrs. Elric. And you did it too before" he said, approaching to her and narrowing his eyes "Moreover, the last name Elric seems familiar to me. It was written in one of the photographs that I saw in the second floor of the Rockbell house. You were a close friend of theirs, weren't you?"

The brunette woman held his gaze, her facial expression converting into a serious and impassive one. The Lt. Colonel tried to hide her astonishment, however a slight flame of pride crackled inside of her for her subordinate.

"You have nothing to search for in this house or in the Rockbell's" Trisha claimed, a strange determination in her peaceful green eyes. She pursed her lips, looking at Riza "Please...just go away"

The Lt. Colonel scowled, straightening and trying to steady the beats of her furious heart. There was something in the woman's request that tempted her to turn around and leave, pursuing the last rays of the dying sun as the dog had done previously, and forget the name of Winry Rockbell, bury it in her memory and make it disappear. She stepped forward, nonetheless, ignoring the knot that was starting to create itself in her stomach, forcing herself to remember the house covered in dust, the dried blood on the wooden floor and the transmutation circle hidden in the dark basement.

"I'm afraid that we can't do that, Mrs. Elric" refused the blonde with authority, confronting the other woman's conflicted face. A brief wave of regret washed the features of the Lieutenant Colonel for less than a second before she stepped forward again. Roy remained behind her, frowning "If you keep preventing us the entrance to the residence, or eluding the alchemist's name, we'll be forced to..."

Riza interrupted herself when she heard the noise of slow and trembling steps descend the stairs. Silence fell between the three adults, the words snatched away from their mouths. A worried expression started to make its way to Trisha's face. Suddenly, the movements ceased, replaced by laborious and deep breaths. Moments later, the pace resumed, and the Lieutenant Colonel could see, with unease and restlessness, the shadow of a person approaching the entrance, to draw later the figure of a little girl.

The woman felt the sharp gasp of the Second Lieutenant behind her. She stepped back taking an intense breath, her hazel eyes widening, horrified. However, Trisha's features softened, though certain sadness tinted her expression. The little girl lifted her face, her cheeks white like porcelain. Her hair, of a blonde as clear as the sunrise's light, fell freely over her back, smooth and soft. Something in her eyes, though, made Riza shudder inside. They were blue, clear like the summer cloudless sky and radiant as two forget-me-nots; they were empty, nevertheless, dancing in agony and anguish.

Riza had the impression that she was looking through the eyes of a corpse.

"What have I told you about going downstairs alone?" Trisha asked softly as if she didn't want to alter the infant while she advanced to her, bending down to be at her height "You have to ask Ed, Al or me for help. It's still too soon in the rehabilitation for you to be going downstairs alone, okay?"

The little girl nodded so nonchalantly that it hurt physically the Lt. Colonel, and even though a small smile graced her lips it didn't reach her eyes. The blonde woman worried her bottom lip, stepping forward with a weak and trembling pace. The child's gaze fixed on her, and Riza repressed a shiver. She looked, instead, at the exposed limbs of the girl, at the metallic shine that could be seen in two of them, contrasting with her light clothes.

The nocturne wind crossed through the house's hall, indicating that the forgotten sunlight had died out.

"What have you done?" inquired Riza in an almost indiscernible whisper, and the girl's body paralyzed. In her eyes something else was seen besides the emptiness, and the Flame Alchemist recognized the emotion without any trouble: it was fear. The gaze of the young blonde went to their uniforms, and she stepped back, losing balance and falling to the floor.

Second Lieutenant Mustang voiced her thoughts out loud.

"It was you..." he murmured, his obsidian eyes widening "you're the famous alchemist...Winry Rockbell"

* * *

Riza accepted kindly the steaming cup of tea that Mrs. Elric offered her, the dancing vapor that raised from it chasing away the night's fresh. She thanked her absently, despite the fact that the cold there was light and pleasant compared to Central's autumn nights. The woman didn't remove her stare from Winry Rockbell's shape, though, crouched in the chair where she was sat. Trisha proceeded to take the place next to the little girl, observing the Lieutenant Colonel.

"We didn't know that the rumors' famous alchemist was just a little girl" began the blonde woman, addressing the brunette "We were rather astounded. And even though it was incomplete...she made the Human Transmutation with success."

At the mention of the transmutation, Winry's body quivered, jumping a bit while she lowered her face. Riza ignored the pain caused by the sight of the young blonde shrinking into herself more, though a part of her felt relieved that her bangs now covered her dull and sad eyes. She thought in how when she was little she would look at herself in the mirror's smooth surface and wish for her eyes to change into a more exotic color, like her father's aqua blue eyes. When those orbs started to show madness instead of love, though, Riza began to appreciate her warm hazel eyes, just like her mother's. Now, scrutinizing the little girl's, so beautiful and yet so dull...

She sighed lightly.

"She has more than enough to be a State Alchemist" the woman stated, and immediately Trisha's features darkened and the girl's eyes obscured. Riza ignored their reactions, nonetheless "If she becomes a State Alchemist, she'll have to fight like a soldier when it's needed. Likewise, that position brings with it multiple privileges, and she will be granted with the permission to make top-level investigations that she wouldn't otherwise be allowed to do. That...that probably will be the only way that she can recover her body"

Trisha's eyes widened with surprise before turning to Winry. The little girl lifted her face slowly, observing the blonde woman. A few moments in silence passed before the infant spoke up, her voice weak and dull.

"Lieutenant Colonel..."

The Flame Alchemist's features softened.

"Just call me Riza, Riza Hawkeye"

The girl remained silent, her eyes hesitant, as if she was struggling between holding Riza's gaze or hide herself with her bangs. The Lt. Colonel frowned, realizing that her kindness wasn't welcomed with any inhabitant of the house.

"Riza..." she began, her eyes lost and empty "...have you ever killed anyone?"

Suddenly, the blonde woman wasn't in the dinning room of a warm home in Resembool, surrounded by meadows and trees that hummed, and a spring-like wind that danced lively all the year, the stars glowing like miniature suns. No, all of sudden she found herself facing the exhausting Ishvalan sun, the sand whipping her features without any mercy, screaming with hatred that her blonde hair, ivory skin and weapons of mass destruction didn't belong there. Unexpectedly, the smell of burned corpses invaded her nostrils, and the screams in agony stunned her, the fire's heat making her feel dizzy―or perhaps what made her sick was living each day, each second, with the knowledge that she wasn't more than a killer of innocents, of disarmed civilians that the only think that they asked for was mercy.

She blinked.

"Yes" she answered, avoiding their gazes. For an instant, the Lt. Colonel thought she saw the spark of another emotion that wasn't sadness in the eyes of the young alchemist.

"I hate soldiers" replied Winry, lowering her face. Trisha put a comforting hand in her shoulder, squeezing it in a signal of support. The blonde woman saw that the sweet and kind eyes of Mrs. Elric transmitted to the child that it wasn't necessary to keep talking, nevertheless the girl ignored her "My parents...my parents were taken away to the battlefield and there they were killed. They weren't even supposed to _fight_ , they were _doctors_. That's the reason. I... I _tried_ to bring them back, but..." her voice broke like a piece of glass "...why would I join the military if they're the ones to blame for the whole situation?" she inquired with a tiny voice. Riza straightened, looking through the window the hills covered in shadows.

"I'm not trying to force you to do it. I'm just showing you the possibilities. If you come or not...that's _your_ decision. You can choose if you want to keep going or hold back at some point. You can end your life immersed in desperation, or join the army and look for an opportunity there..." she answered, without stopping to stare at the night's darkness, her hazel eyes fixed on the shadows of the outside, illuminated very slightly by the stars' soft light "You shouldn't blame the military for something that was your responsibility. If there's the possibility of recovering your body, you should keep going...don't you think so?"

The ghost of a smile touched Winry's lips, and her eyes were far away, perhaps in a time when she didn't know what sadness was.

"That's what Ed and Al always tell me" as soon as the smile came it was gone, replaced by a dull and tortured demeanor "I think I deserve this. The transmutation..."

Her voice shattered. Trisha closed her eyes painfully, nonetheless she managed to smile to the Lt. Colonel, exhausted.

"Do you want more tea, Lieutenant Colonel Hawkeye?" she asked, though Riza's cup hadn't been touched. The woman shook her head, smiling in gratitude and getting up from the chair. She walked to the kitchen's door, where Roy would be waiting for her in the outside with the other two Elric kids.

"Miss Riza..."the aforementioned turned back at hearing Winry's dull and monotonous voice, stopping short "...why did you become a soldier?"

Riza observed Winry. The rumors' famous alchemist was just a broken girl with a lost and empty gaze that longed for the return of her family, and for that committed the most forbidden sin in alchemy. Her long, blonde hair fell over her back, the automail limbs contrasting with her ivory skin. Purple circles surrounded the dull eyes that seemed to belong to a dead person, that reminded Riza of each child she'd killed. Despite her decrepit state, the blonde woman found the strength to smile warmly.

"Because I have someone to protect"

* * *

Riza tasted Resembool's night air, and observed with wonder the spectacle that extended throughout the sky. Stars, of all sizes and colors, scattered through the firmament, with a mystic glow that not even gems reached. The shapes of Trisha Elric and her two sons silhouetted against the golden lights of a house on a hill, watching them depart. The Lt. Colonel sighed with a light smile on her face, her gaze fixed on the majestic night sky.

"We never have a sight like this in the city, do we?" her subordinate sighed too next to her, his obsidian eyes secretly delighted by the scene. Suddenly the soft gesture of happiness in the woman's face was dissolved.

"Do you think she will come, Second Lieutenant Mustang?" she inquired without removing her eyes from the sky full of stars. Roy chuckled.

"She'll come, Lieutenant Colonel" he replied. Riza raised an eyebrow.

"But her eyes looked so dull..."

"Hers? Yes, perhaps. Truth be told, it was as if I was seeing the eyes of a dead person" the man smirked "But you didn't see the eyes of the boy with golden hair. Not Alphonse, the one we saw at first, but the oldest of the two. Edward Elric. Those eyes...they had _flames_ burning in them"

The blonde woman pursed her lips, transforming them into a tense line. Roy widened his smile, raising his eyebrows.

"Have I ever told you how beautiful you look under the star's light, Lt. Colonel Hawkeye...?" he asked charmingly, however he was interrupted by a black bolt that crossed the hills, leading to the Elric's home. The woman didn't frighten at the return of the dog that had escaped previously, and sighed.

"Let's see if you say the same with all the paperwork that awaits for us in the quarters, Second Lieutenant Mustang" Riza had to restrain a satisfied smile at her subordinate's resigned sigh. With the back of her eye she noticed that a fourth shadow joined the other three shapes in the Elric's residence doorstep, welcoming half-heartedly the dog's arrival. The woman wondered if the fire that Roy saw in Edward Elric's eyes would be enough to wake up the young alchemist from the cold and lonely resignation of the dead in life.

* * *

 _One year later.  
_

Winry watched the house in front of her, surrounded by Resembool's green hills that always gave her serenity and warmth. She observed painfully the peeled yellow walls, the worn out sign that spelled "automail", the broken windows and the green door where she had gone through many times in the past, jumping into her parents' arms. She thought about the photos that were inside, the workshop where her grandmother had always been so immersed in work. She thought about all her memories, all the feelings...how her father kissed her on the forehead before going to sleep, how her mother hugged her after returning from school and how her Granny scolded her...

Finally, she remembered the fateful night that had costed her more than just two limbs. She closed her eyes.

When she opened them, she could see the three pairs of eyes as blue as forget-me-nots, just like hers. Sepulchral, they examined her without any expression, accusing her, pursuing her, the warmth that they'd provided forgotten in their graves, under the flowers that the blonde always made sure were there.

When she looked at the front again, she saw her home.

"You don't have to do this, Winry" Alphonse begged her over, exchanging his gaze between her and the torch in her hand. The blonde shook the head, sensing the weight of her new silver watch, what identified her as a State Alchemist and marked a new stage on her journey. She couldn't _shouldn't_ come back.

Trisha studied her, pain dancing in her green eyes; there was acceptance too, though, as if since the moment when Winry went to Central to make the test she knew this would happen. The night wind shook the meadows, waving her blonde hair and making the fire stammer. The cold caressed her face, illuminated by the fire's amber light.

Edward remained silent. Winry observed how he tightened his jaw and clenched his fists. The young alchemist scrutinized the torch and breathed deeply. She held back the tears from the memories that the old house recalled. She looked at the construction.

"I don't have a home to return to anymore" she whispered, and the girl noticed that, beside her, Edward tightened even more his fists. Closing her eyes, she threw the torch towards her home. Al gasped, and Den started to bark and struggle against him. Trisha lowered her gaze, moving her eyes away from the scene.

But the alchemist observed how the fire expanded slowly through all the house, helped by the early morning autumn wind. Soon, the flames licked the walls, trying to reach the starry sky without success. The flares' heat kissed her cheeks gently, like a lighthouse in the dark. Inside, everything was being consumed by the inferno, transforming into ashes. Her room, her parents', Granny's workshop, the family's photos...everything was being destroyed, succumbing to the fire.

The basement's cold was still there, though, the breathing of the being she'd created kept misting the air. Its monotonous movements, its stretched arm; the picture was still vivid in the back of her eyes. Nevertheless, the blonde didn't move her gaze away of the dancing flames.

Edward started to bit his lip so tightly that Winry feared that he would split it. Silent crystal tears rolled through Al's cheeks, and the blonde thought she saw Trisha's eyes starting to water―it all could be a trick of the flares, though. Den stopped barking, observing crestfallen her home being eradicated to its foundations.

Winry grinned slightly.

"Stop worrying your bottom lip, idiot. You're going to end splitting it," she scolded him "just like your fists. As tight as you are clenching, you're going to end cutting your circulation"

Her friend's golden eyes drifted to her. They were bright and burning, full of passion, as the flames in front of them.

"Stop nagging me, woman" he complained, but the blonde saw the tension hidden behind his words. Winry smiled gently to Alphonse, who had his face full of tears, his eyes begging her to _not do this_ , to not torture herself, that there were other ways; and to Trisha, whose benevolent gaze observed her sorrowfully. Then, she turned back.

Winry took a last look of the house. Of the memories that she abandoned to the fire. Of the sin that she tried to erase without any success. Of the flames consuming everything they touched.

Finally, she watched the silhouettes of Ed, Al, Trisha and Den, that were shaped against the fire's blazing light. She worried her bottom lip, holding her own tears, feeling the cold wind wave her hair. The gazes of the three Elrics were fixed on her.

Her new silver watch was heavy in her pocket, perhaps too heavy. _Don't forget. October 3rd, 1911._

She turned back, walking to the train station. She silently bid farewell to the meadows, the stars, the Elrics and her home. Winry had always despised goodbyes, observing someone else's back disappear into the distance. This time was no exception. Only for the first time, she was the one who was going away. Behind her, the dawn's grayish light touched the horizon, the aurora burning the edges of the sky. Just like she had burnt her home, now lost in the fire.

Now, she didn't have a home to return to.


End file.
